In another blow to the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), party MLA from Patancheru Gudem Mahipal Reddy on Monday joined the congress party. Reddy is the 10th BRS MLA to have switched sides with Congress. With his joining Congress' the total strength in the assembly has increased to 74. He joined the grand old party in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and other leaders including Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, former MLA T Jagga Reddy and others. The BRS MLA had met Revanth Reddy at his residence on Saturday and joined the party today. Reddy's decision to join Congress comes in the wake of an Enforcement Directorate raid at his company and brother in the mining case.
6 MLCs leave BRS to join Congress
The latest development comes within 10 days of 6 MLCs joining the Congress party in the presence of CM Revanth Reddy. On July 5, six BRS MLCs including, Dande Vittal, Bhanu Prasad, B Dayanand, Prabhakar Rao, Basavaraju Saraiah and E Mallesham left their party to join Congress. Back then, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao targeted Congress and said his party had seen similar defections in the past when the Congress was in power and that it had to eventually "bow down". This led to a heated exchange between him and CM Revanthn Reddy who charged BRS for encouraging defections when it was in power.
K Keshava Rao joins Congress
On July 3, senior BRS leader and former Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao also joined the Congress party, K=Rao returned to Congress after a decade. He was the President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee but joined BRS in 2013 following the delay in granting statehood to Telangana. BRS sent him to Rajya Sabha in 2014 and renominated him in 2020. On July 3, he along with his daughter and Greater Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi tendered his resignation to BRS and joined the Congress party. Later on July 5, he met Rajya Sabha Chairman and resigned as the Member of the Upper House.
ALSO READ | K Keshava Rao resigns from Rajya Sabha after joining Congress, BRS demands six defector MLAs to follow suit
